Nebraska Cruises Against Idaho State

In a moment of candor leading up this week's contest with ISU, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini admitted that he didn't like to play lower division schools. About a quarter into this one, it was clear why. The Bengals may not have asked for a mercy rule, but for their sake it might have been nice. A 35-0 first quarter advantage for the Huskers stretched to a 45-0 halftime lead. The only real drama was whether or not any key NU personnel would be injured.

The Huskers took the opening kick to midfield, but the drive stalled and NU missed a 51-yard field goal attempt. Nebraska would have little trouble scoring after that. The offense scored four straight touchdowns and the defense contributed a fifth in the first period. Backup quarterback Ron Kellogg entered the game in the second quarter, but after an interception was given a seat. Starter Taylor Martinez led two more scoring drives in his next three attempts.

Rex Burkhead managed 119 yards and two touchdowns on just eight attempts. Nebraska's other playmakers got into the act with Ameer Abdullah, Quincy Enunwa, and Kenny Bell all scoring first-half TD's. Ciante Evans had an interception return for a score as well. The only drama was when Mohammed Seisay, PJ Smith, and Courtney Osborne were each shaken up briefly. The Huskers amassed 361 yards at the half while yielding just 74.

NU special teams stood out in the third quarter with an 80-yard punt return by Ameer Abdullah that went for a score and a blocked punt that set up another. Ron Kellogg got his first touchdown pass to Steven Osborne and Braylon Heard adding a rushing touchdown to make it 66-0 going into the fourth quarter.

Idaho State finally got on the board when their backup quarterback (and starting punter) connected on a touchdown pass against NU's reserves after freshman running back Imani Cross fumbled to open the fourth period. Cross responded with a score to make it a 73-7 game with over 8 minutes to go. Mercifully, neither team would score again.

There could be quibbles about NU's execution. Too many sacks given up, too many penalties and too many turnovers. So many of the errors happened to backup players, that it's hard to get too concerned. All things considered, the kind of effort you'd hope for against an overmatched opponent.

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15 comments so far

In the internet age, it’s a little awkward, seeing Nebraska run up that much. First 70+ game since ‘07, which, incidentally, was also the last time the Corn gave up 70+. Of course, scoring 70 wasn’t so unusual, a while back. Been a while. Really, just a product of depth playing hard.
Big week, coming up.

Nice win for the Huskers against a vastly overmatched opponent. The RB tandem of Abdullah and Heard are starting to remind me of the early 1990s RB duo of Calvin Jones and Derek Brown. Oh, and Rex came back with a 9 rush, 119 yard, 2 TD effort. We’re obviously deep at RB. Next week, the real season begins…...........

Great thing tho is that players who may never of saw playing time got their shot at playing. Personally I hated the matchup I was at the game and it felt like we were playing a highschool.team. hopefully our players are reminded that its Idaho st. And not a big ten team. Don’t let them get full headed

Has anyone been watching Wisconsin this year? Good God they’re bad! We’re gonna beat them by more than they beat us last year. Ha! Let the slaughter begin !!!
Michigan State is the same way…they can’t score! And they’re defense isn’t as good as advertised. Ohio State is good, and we’ll be seeing Braxton at the Heisman ceramonies someday, but they’re not world beaters…we can take them. Oh, and our buddy Dennard Robinson? ouch…he’s laying a little low today. He kinda had a bad day yesterday…threw 4…wait was it 5 (?) interceptions, and topped that off with a nice fumble! Say goodbye to Mr Heisman on your way out sir. Beatable. Highly beatable.
When you have a Heisman level running back, AND DON’T EVEN NEED HIM, your sittin’ pretty good.
We can win this conference this year…

Jay
9/23/2012

PE-
I wouldn’t underestimate Wisconsin with quick. Oregon St just beat UCLA that we struggled with and lost to. Although it would be great to rack on some style points against Beliema.

I think Nebraska can come out of this season #1 in the B1G, lets just hope they don’t get cocky and lose games we could easily win.

ISU Fan
9/23/2012

Yep, this is the Nebraska I remember from the Big 12: Run up the score.

Twuato22
9/23/2012

ISU FAN

Trust me, this was not runing up the score.. After the first quarter it was 35-0 and could have easily been 42-0… Then it was hand off left, hand off right,, Our backup QB played 3 quarters, and we had at least 5 different guys score running touchdowns,.. If they wanted to run up the score, we could have easily put up 120 , this team was just plain bad,, JUST LIKE ISU.. ;) Not really , much worse

I am driving out for the game Saturday from michigan. haven’t been to one since ‘79. any pointers would be great best place to park, eat etc…. i can’t wait!
GBR

Twauto22
9/24/2012

As far as parking its kind of a crap shoot, best bet is to find a parking lot with a $10-20 parking tag and go with it 8-12th from about L to O street probably has the most parking lots you can pay to get into .. If your staying at a hotel in town , leave it there and find a way make it to the stadium.. The earlier you get the better… BEst places to eat are probably Mistys if youve got time or just anywhere in the haymarket… El Potrero if you like Mexican, or Buzzard Billys if you like cajun.. If its Bar food/atmosphere you want, Barrys or N Zone , or The Barrel Bar are all near the stadium and good places for the game day atmosphere.. Again , They all kind of fill up fast so good luck and Welcome back!